5 Disney Rides I Can’t Believe Haven’t Been Made into Movies

Plenty of Disney’s most successful films have been turned into theme park attractions, but comparatively few of the latter have been turned into blockbusters! Sure, there’s the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as well as two Haunted Mansion films, The Jungle Cruise, and The Country Bears, but beyond those, there’s a library of Disney rides just waiting for the cinematic treatment.

Each of these attractions is arguably just as well-known and revered amongst theme park and Disney aficionados as, say, Pirates of the Caribbean, and features characters and narrative settings that would seemingly be perfect for a film.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Disney’s iconic “Wildest Ride in the Wilderness” might not immediately jump out as one that could be adapted for a film. However, this Tony Baxter-designed thrill ride actually has some of the deepest lore and backstory of any Disney attraction. While the details vary between parks, the general story of most versions of the attraction revolves around Barnabas T. Bullion, a greedy mine owner who began extensively mining the mountain for ore, despite it being sacred ground to a Native American tribe.

Eventually, the description of the amount leads to a (super)natural disaster — an earthquake in Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, a tsunami in Tokyo Disneyland, or a flash flood in Walt Disney World — leads to the failure of the mine and abandonment of the town around it.

As if that wasn’t enough of a story for a potential film, the world of Big Thunder has also been fleshed out in a Marvel Comics series from their Disney Kingdoms line. The official synopsis of the series read, “Malevolent mine owner Barnabas T. Bullion is determined to shelter his teen daughter Abigail from the dangers of the Wild West, but this brave young hero has other ideas… which include robbing her own father’s mine as a masked bandit.”

Journey Into Imagination

Pretty much since the day the original (and deeply missed) version of Journey Into Imagination opened at EPCOT in 1983, many fans have wanted to see a cinematic adaptation of the ride’s central characters: the mercurial Dreamfinder and his purple dragon sidekick Figment. Even the disastrous late 90s and early 2000s refurbishments of the attraction haven’t tempered fan enthusiasm for a potential film starring the two.

Similar to Big Thunder Mountain, a series of Marvel Comics series in the mid-2010s fleshed out the world of the characters, providing a potential basis for a film about them. Figment was in the works at one point, but we haven’t heard about it in a while.

“it’s a small world”

“it’s a small world has been one of Disney’s most iconic attractions since it initially opened as part of the 1964 New York World’s Fair over six decades ago. Between its earworm theme song, message of global harmony, and instantly recognizable Mary Blair designs, the attraction — which has been installed at nearly every Disney resort — is recognizable around the world in a way that would potentially translate well to a film.

In fact, a somewhat bizarre live-action “it’s a small world” film was almost made in the 1970s. This “Cold War comedy” was pitched as a story “centered on the children of United Nations Ambassadors, who become caught up in their parents’ conflict and resolve to bring peace between the nations and prevent war by kidnapping them.” Um… okay. The film actually had a script written and a poster designed before the project stalled out.

That… odd treatment aside, I still think Disney could make a very solid “small world” film, especially if they did so in an animated Mary Blair style.

Space Mountain

Given Space Mountain’s status as arguably Disney’s most famous thrill ride, it’s arguably surprising that Disney has yet to combine the various elements of the ride’s mythos — space stations shaped like the show building, Starport 75, etc. — into a cinematic narrative. It’s not for lack of trying, though, as film versions have been in development at various times over the years, though none have seen the light of day… yet.

In 2024, writers Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec were announced to be writing a live-action adaptation of Space Mountain from producers Jonathan Eirich from Rideback, Joby Harold, and Tory Tunnell. Will the movie actually blast off or see another failure to launch? Time will tell.

Tower of Terror

Finally, this last attraction may be a bit of a cheat on this list for a few reasons. For starters, the original Disney World version of Tower of Terror is related to The Twilight Zone, which has had a feature film and several television series of varying success. However, since the ride’s story is original and not adapted from a specific episode, I’m giving that a pass.

Secondly, I can already hear those of you saying, “But Tower of Terror already has a movie!” Trust me, I’m very aware of the 1997 Wonderful World of Disney film starring Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst. While that film is… fine, and is certainly fondly remembered by many viewers of a certain age, I just can’t help but feel like more could be done with the Tower of Terror’s story in film.

A modern Tower of Terror film, complete with a horror-esque milieu, special effects, and a more Twilight Zone-esque take on the mythos (if not a full-on Twilight Zone collaboration), could be a game-changer as far as rides based on Disney films go. There have been rumors of such a film at various times, though none have come to fruition at this time.

These five are just some of the iconic Disney attractions that have yet to see a cinematic adaptation but arguably deserve it! Stay tuned to AllEars for more on Disney’s theme park history.

5 Disney Movies I Can’t Believe DON’T Have Rides

Which of these rides would you most want to see made into a film? Let us know in the comments below.

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